Does anyone know why this is being fast tracked? Others this season has seen players have 3 or 4 days to consider their defence. If it's because we have a big game Saturday then that's disgusting.

Others don't play as many games as we do. Decisions are always made before the club's next fixture. FA addressed this a while back but I can't find the article anymore. 

Can anybody show me this elbow of Skrtel's ?

 

I missed it.

If he's banned and we beat them on Saturday, oh boy it's going to be the sweetest victory all year.

Hell yes!

While we're at it can anybody find a video of the stamp on Can, preferably with as many angles as possible.

There are some people (Chelsea fans even) who will tell you there's no media-driven agenda against Chelsea.

 

 

There isn't. Every big club seems to have some supporters who think there is an agenda against them, City probably being the worst. The Costa incident feeds into an existing narrative that Costa is a dirty player, something that he's not really helped himself with. You then had Sky talk about it at half-time, presumably because there wasn't much else to talk about and then Jose and Rodgers commented on it. It's a valid story and has f**k all to do with an agenda against Chelsea.

 

City fans say exactly the same thing on Bluemoon.

 

United fans have long-moaned about ABUs and there own manager refused to speak to a certain public broadcaster as well as numerous reporters for similar reasons.

 

It's ridiculous and only serves to betray a lack of understanding about the way the media works.

 

 

 

What's happened here is a disgrace. There simply is no case to answer. The stamp was not a stamp. Stamp your foot on the floor and see. Stamping involves an action. Diego Costa engaged in no such action.

 

 

Watching it back I said that it's a naughty one and I stand by that. You may plead ignorance to his intent but Oliver is looking at this as he would at the time and it's a judgment call. 

 

Some may agree with you, others will disagree.

There are some people (Chelsea fans even) who will tell you there's no media-driven agenda against Chelsea.

Ask them a simple question ..

When we lost to City at Wembley in the FA Cup semi, were the headlines the next day about Aguero's (far more obvious) stamp or the stonewall pen we should have been given?

What's happened here is a disgrace. There simply is no case to answer. The stamp was not a stamp. Stamp your foot on the floor and see. Stamping involves an action. Diego Costa engaged in no such action.

Sure, he may have meant to tread on Can, but how can we know? He neither looks down at him, neither alters his stride one bit or lands with greater force. It could well have been an accident. Our opinions are irrelevant. You can analyse it and analyse it and analyse it, at no point does he betray his intent, if there is any. He does nothing wild, nothing out of the ordinary, he simply treads on Can's ankle, and that can happen. There can be accidents. At no point is this acknowledged by the media. They've found him guilty already, whereas far more obvious offences, like Aguero's, or Gerrard's stamp on Nolan a few years ago, or Suarez continually raking his studs down the back of opponents' legs, are largely ignored by comparison.

It's ridiculous.

Michael Oliver has now looked at it and said had he seen it at the time he would have brandished a red. That's right, the same Michael Oliver that saw Henderson's handball and failed to send him off. That saw Lucas commit two fouls while on a yellow and failed to send him off. He would have sent Costa off, despite there being no evidence of intent at all.

It's a 3 game ban and there's no way we can get off. I hope Jose doesn't even bother. I just hope he lays into the FA and the referee and the media on this one at his next press conference. It has been a witchhunt, from start to finish. Let them punish him, he has the truth on his side, how can you say with any certainty Costa intended a stamp? You can't. Was it serious foul play? Absolutely not.

Embarrass the FA, Jose, don't appeal, please. Show them you think any appeal is futile, not because you're bang to rights, but because they are corrupt. They have pandered to public opinion on this one, as has Oliver.

Ask yourself this, if Gerrard had committed the crime, as he has done in the past, what would Jamie Redknapp have said?

Costa and Chelsea have been victims of prejudice. Say it all Jose, and then refuse to speak to Sky on Saturday. Yours are the interviews they want the most. Don't do them.

This 1 million %

Others don't play as many games as we do. Decisions are always made before the club's next fixture. FA addressed this a while back but I can't find the article anymore.

It took them about three weeks to charge Mourinho for his "conspiracy" comments after the Southampton game but less than 24 to bring retrospective charges against Costa.

As I said before it is the lack of consistency that's frustrating.

How many players have been retrospectively punished this season to date? Not many I would venture, possibly less than 5?

What I would like to know is, when reviewing the incidents do they show it once to the match day official in real time and then ask for a snap judgement, same as in the game itself?

Or do they show multiple angles, zoomed in, I'm super slow motion? Because a lot of tackles, incidents etc look a lot worse in slow motion and, the Skertle penalty incident last night for example if viewed again you would say, yellow card and a penalty but that's football you don't get a 2nd chance as a ref except the FA are now cherry picking incidents with which they deem worthy of retrospective punishment.

if the fa overlooked previous cases but punish costa for last night then to be fair they are correct in this case. costa shouldn't avoid punishment because the fa have been negligent in the past.

 

IMO the problem is that it seems to me that retrospective punishment seems to be media driven-  I wonder if they have a panel who look back on every game or whether it takes big flashpoint incidents in big televised games to see action taken? without the papers, pundits etc talking about it nothing seems to happen.

 

if you're diego costa stamping on a player in a cup semi it gets considered. if you are charlie adam and you do something similar in a game that isn't televised then it needs someone on match of the day to decide to spend some of the precious few seconds they get to analyse the game to highlight it. if the game has more than a couple of goals then forget it.

 

I wonder how it works- does it need a formal complaint for someone to look at a game? it seems reactionary to me...

 

Of course it is media driven, the whole Sky thing was a disgrace to be honest.

 

I'm one of the ones here that think Costa is in the wrong and rightfully so punished. But the whole sky thing is just borderline ridiculous I just don't know what to make of things right now, I really don't.

 

I seem really paranoid when I say that there is an agenda against us but even though it's easy to think that way, it's getting hard for me to not think that way. I'm on the fence about most things right now, however it seems to me it's a top club thing, but I can never remember this fuss against United when they were top of the league. They obviously want a competitive league.

 

I'm sounding paranoid but I don't know, I'm open to suggestions and quite frankly I agree with what Davey Baby said entirely.

If I were the club - I would suggest in the media that there will be no contest to the charge, and then at 5:59pm notify the FA that they are requesting a personal hearing - whilst informing them that as part of the preparations for the City game that Costa can be found in Magaluf with the rest of the squad, and that they should organise the personal hearing for there.

 

Arseholes.

 

I'm struggling to see how anyone can call it a stamp.  Appears to be just media hyperbole to me - and I'm surprised that Michael Oliver has come out and said that he would have given him a straight red card if he saw it.

It took them about three weeks to charge Mourinho for his "conspiracy" comments after the Southampton game but less than 24 to bring retrospective charges against Costa.

As I said before it is the lack of consistency that's frustrating.

 

Completely different. Retrospective punishment for players is a case of rectifying errors made in the match that would have led to a ban in the following match. 

 

If this was a City player we'd  be applauding it, but it's gone against us and rather than taking it like a man.....

Watching it back I said that it's a naughty one and I stand by that. You may plead ignorance to his intent but Oliver is looking at this as he would at the time and it's a judgment call. 

 

Some may agree with you, others will disagree.

 

Only part I don't agree with Davey Baby on.

 

I understand some people debating on whether it's a stamp or not, but I don't know how anyone can say that wasn't intentional.

Completely different. Retrospective punishment for players is a case of rectifying errors made in the match that would have led to a ban in the following match.

If this was a City player we'd be applauding it, but it's gone against us and rather than taking it like a man.....

Like how aguero has escaped a ban on 2 separate occasions for 2 worse challenges, or like how toure escaped a ban for kicking that Norwich player.

I think two important points were made by ex-referees on the radio today. The first was Mark Halsey commenting that in his view, Costa has not been treated fairly by Premier League refs since he arrived. His reputation as a rough boy in Spain preceded his arrival here and refs have been influenced by that. Halsey said he felt Costa has not had fair treatment, had been denied free-kicks and on occasion penalties and that when that happens, players end up trying to take the law into their own hands.

 

The second was Graham Poll this afternoon, who while he agreed Costa could be charged over the Can incident, criticised Mike Oliver for not awarding the penalty, not giving Henderson a second yellow and not giving Lucas his second yellow. Poll said this refereeing performance could be interpreted to suggest that Oliver was not refereeing the game impartially and that he was purposefully denying Chelsea any advantage. That's quite a serious suggestion and I think it does give weight to Jose's argument that the media and other coaches are trying to influence officials against us.

 

The media lost last year's figure of hate, he went to Barcelona so now they've fingered Costa as the bad boy and are making as much of it as they can. In my opinion, there is a desire amongst many football journalists and pundits to see Jose fail. Maybe it's the usual British thing about knocking down successful people but it is definitely there and it's not going to stop.

 

Is there anything Chelsea fans can do about this? Probably not , any Chelsea voice on the radio today was dismissed with "every fan thinks the world is against his club." Maybe we have to suffer in silence and be dignified about it all.

 

  Lastly, we should all remember that whatever Costa intended when his foot landed on Emre Can's ankle, it's not as if he bit someone.   

Of course it is media driven, the whole Sky thing was a disgrace to be honest.

 

I'm one of the ones here that think Costa is in the wrong and rightfully so punished. But the whole sky thing is just borderline ridiculous I just don't know what to make of things right now, I really don't.

 

I seem really paranoid when I say that there is an agenda against us but even though it's easy to think that way, it's getting hard for me to not think that way. I'm on the fence about most things right now, however it seems to me it's a top club thing, but I can never remember this fuss against United when they were top of the league. They obviously want a competitive league.

 

I'm sounding paranoid but I don't know, I'm open to suggestions and quite frankly I agree with what Davey Baby said entirely.

 

There's no agenda. We're a big club, we get more attention. Sport is entertainment and it's about creating excitement, controversy, talking points.

 

When a player like Costa (because let's not pretend he doesn't have a reputation) does something like that then of course it will be analysed, dissected and covered, especially when it's been 0-0 in the first half. They did exactly the same thing with Suarez...TWICE.

 

I take great enjoyment in reading the tinfoil-wearers on Bluemoon moan about an agenda against them and it's f**king embarrassing to read similar comments on here. 

 

At least they put a little effort into their conspiracy theories, actually naming those they think are responsible (and being inevitably wrong). So come on lads, don't do this half-arsed. Start naming names.

Like how aguero has escaped a ban on 2 separate occasions for 2 worse challenges, or like how toure escaped a ban for kicking that Norwich player.

 

The stamp on Luiz resulted in a free-kick for us didn't it? That's why it couldn't be acted upon after the match.

 

At least that's what it says in the Daily Mail

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2309289/Sergio-Aguero-ESCAPES-ban-horror-tackle-David-Luiz.html

 

and the Guardian

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/apr/15/sergio-aguero-escapes-ban-stamp

 

and The Sun

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4889035/Sergio-Aguero-tackle-No-FA-charge-after-David-Luiz-stamp.html

 

I could carry on but you get the point. The difference is that Aguero has a different reputation to Costa so the media cover it differently.

Completely different. Retrospective punishment for players is a case of rectifying errors made in the match that would have led to a ban in the following match.

If this was a City player we'd be applauding it, but it's gone against us and rather than taking it like a man.....

Not at all, I'm pretty consistent with my opinion that the FA lacks any consistency of their own with regards to these sorts of things, like I said they seem to cherry pick incidents to retrospectively punish and it is often those that receive a level of media coverage.

Charlie Adam swung an elbow at Schurrle when we played Stoke in December, where was his retrospective punishment? Aguero's stamp against West Ham? Any of Fellaini's many stray elbows?

What I am highlight the Jose misconduct charge for is that the FA is apparently well staffed enough to judge a tackle less than 24 hours after a game but it takes them 3 weeks to decide on a misconduct charge? Why take so long with some decisions and an almost instantaneous response for others?

There's no agenda. We're a big club, we get more attention. Sport is entertainment and it's about creating excitement, controversy, talking points.

 

When a player like Costa (because let's not pretend he doesn't have a reputation) does something like that then of course it will be analysed, dissected and covered, especially when it's been 0-0 in the first half. They did exactly the same thing with Suarez...TWICE.

 

I take great enjoyment in reading the tinfoil-wearers on Bluemoon moan about an agenda against them and it's f**king embarrassing to read similar comments on here. 

 

At least they put a little effort into their conspiracy theories, actually naming those they think are responsible (and being inevitably wrong). So come on lads, don't do this half-arsed. Start naming names.

By that logic surely Skrtels elbow should have been the focus of discussions in the first leg & had 6 sky articles running at the same time as it was a game that ended 0-0 which could have changed that game? let's not beat around the push, Skrtel also has a record of being a thuggish defender.

Really am sick and tired of football and this whole witchunt against us.

There's no agenda. We're a big club, we get more attention. Sport is entertainment and it's about creating excitement, controversy, talking points.

 

When a player like Costa (because let's not pretend he doesn't have a reputation) does something like that then of course it will be analysed, dissected and covered, especially when it's been 0-0 in the first half. They did exactly the same thing with Suarez...TWICE.

 

I take great enjoyment in reading the tinfoil-wearers on Bluemoon moan about an agenda against them and it's f**king embarrassing to read similar comments on here. 

 

At least they put a little effort into their conspiracy theories, actually naming those they think are responsible (and being inevitably wrong). So come on lads, don't do this half-arsed. Start naming names.

 

I think most people are just fed up with the inconsistency from the F.A.

 

But I'll have you know I blame nobody but Costa himself for doing this, we have to take it on the chin. However the whole top club thing, we've gotten it much harder than Manchester United ever got it, not sure about City as they have never really been at the top of the league this long, they usually nick it until the very end.

 

But we've been top of the league for months now and some of the stuff we've had thrown at us is unfair I believe. The diving thing was absolutely ridiculous, if you are to pick on us for diving, then you have to pick on everybody else, yet nothing was said about other teams diving despite Spurs doing the same thing the very next week.

 

Conspiracy theory is a strange word to use, I don't think it's hard to think that the media like to criticize us for a good story, even make the league more competitive, portray us as the villains, they want nothing more than City to win on Saturday and I can perfectly understand that. They want the league to be competitive however I am sick and tired of the inconsistency from the F.A. and the inconsistency from media criticism on us in general, that's what is winding me up right now.

Edited January 28, 201511 yr by Slawth

Really am sick and tired of football and this whole witchunt against us.

Its times like this that I wish I had no interest.

There isn't. Every big club seems to have some supporters who think there is an agenda against them, City probably being the worst. The Costa incident feeds into an existing narrative that Costa is a dirty player, something that he's not really helped himself with. You then had Sky talk about it at half-time, presumably because there wasn't much else to talk about and then Jose and Rodgers commented on it. It's a valid story and has f**k all to do with an agenda against Chelsea.

 

City fans say exactly the same thing on Bluemoon.

 

United fans have long-moaned about ABUs and there own manager refused to speak to a certain public broadcaster as well as numerous reporters for similar reasons.

 

It's ridiculous and only serves to betray a lack of understanding about the way the media works.

 

 

Watching it back I said that it's a naughty one and I stand by that. You may plead ignorance to his intent but Oliver is looking at this as he would at the time and it's a judgment call. 

 

Some may agree with you, others will disagree.

 

Presumably there wasn't much else to talk about? Only a stonewall pen and numerous chances for Liverpool. Yeah it was really uneventful.

 

There was only one thing they wanted to talk about. Redknapp could hardly contain himself.

 

Jose and Rodgers commented on it because Sky prompted them with leading questions, i.e. driving the agenda. Rodgers wasn't even asked about the red cards his players should have been shown, nor the penalty that should have been given. 

 

Wasn't even asked. Why?

 

I firmly believe if roles had been reversed nobody, but nobody would be talking about any stamp, they'd all be focusing on refereeing injustices. Oliver would be now being pilloried. Instead Costa's the villain.

 

If it's all because of an existing narrative about Costa being a dirty player, why oh why were countless examples of Suarez raking his studs down the back of opponents' achilles heels ignored by the media? He was a dirty player, was he not? Why is the fact Rooney shows more dissent to referees more than any other player ignored, whereas if our players do it, it's put on a loop on Sky for a week. Fact.

 

While we're at it, find me one sports columnist that has dared to pass comment on Ryan Giggs' sex life. Do you know he was made captain of Team GB at the Olympics? Now find me one sports columnist that condemned the decision. 

 

If you think we get the same treatment as every other big club, you're living in la la land.

While we're at it can anybody find a video of the stamp on Can, preferably with as many angles as possible.

 

Here is the video:

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/E3CE9955D21171949212838379520_37686e71bd1.0.1.14667688942729317667.mp4?versionId=CfYeqXg.oSX94eIWlqeZFI39YsT81zgM

 

Good luck trying to prove that this is deliberate. It's a step on the foot, no unatural movement from Costas part and Costa is focusing on the ball..

Here is the video:

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/E3CE9955D21171949212838379520_37686e71bd1.0.1.14667688942729317667.mp4?versionId=CfYeqXg.oSX94eIWlqeZFI39YsT81zgM

 

Good luck trying to prove that this is deliberate. It's a step on the foot, no unatural movement from Costas part and Costa is focusing on the ball..

The more I watch that the less I think it's deliberate, he's outting his foot down as you would to accelerate off your back foot, if it was looked at holistically I think an appeal would be successful, so we'd probably lose.

Presumably there wasn't much else to talk about? Only a stonewall pen and numerous chances for Liverpool. Yeah it was really uneventful.

 

There was only one thing they wanted to talk about. Redknapp could hardly contain himself.

 

Jose and Rodgers commented on it because Sky prompted them with leading questions, i.e. driving the agenda. Rodgers wasn't even asked about the red cards his players should have been shown, nor the penalty that should have been given. 

 

Wasn't even asked. Why?

 

I firmly believe if roles had been reversed nobody, but nobody would be talking about any stamp, they'd all be focusing on refereeing injustices. Oliver would be now being pilloried. Instead Costa's the villain.

 

If it's all because of an existing narrative about Costa being a dirty player, why oh why were countless examples of Suarez raking his studs down the back of opponents' achilles heels ignored by the media? He was a dirty player, was he not? Why is the fact Rooney shows more dissent to referees more than any other player ignored, whereas if our players do it, it's put on a loop on Sky for a week. Fact.

 

While we're at it, find me one sports columnist that has dared to pass comment on Ryan Giggs' sex life. Do you know he was made captain of Team GB at the Olympics? Now find me one sports columnist that condemned the decision. 

 

If you think we get the same treatment as every other big club, you're living in la la land.

 

Fair enough. You believe that there's an agenda specifically against this club if you want but it's remarkably naive in my opinion. We've spoken before on this subject and I thought we found some middle ground, that the only agenda the media have is to make money and they do that by creating controversy and conflict.

 

We're a big club, when stuff involves us it has a fair wider reach. If it involves Liverpool then even more so. 

 

There's your agenda.

 

Thinking there's a specific agenda against us is absolutely ridiculous and you can't name a single person who you actually think would orchestrate this, nor can you think of a reason for this to happen that doesn't feed some way into some existing victim complex.

 

In the words of Chelsea supporters, 'Always the victim, it's never your fault'.

Its in the eyes, I think its deliberate, I don't have a problem with the ban, but I have a massive problem with the repotting and the way others have gotten off with worse acts. See my FA thread for a few examples off the top of my head.